“He has a strained MCL, so he’s out for a few weeks,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said Saturday night after a 19-15 loss to Vanderbilt.

Franklin missed one game earlier this season with a shoulder injury. Redshirt freshman Corbin Berkstresser started against Arizona State and led the Tigers to a 24-20 victory.

But Berkstresser struggled against Vanderbilt. In a little more than three quarters, he completed only 9 of 30 passes for 189 yards and one touchdown. That TD was an 85-yard pass to Bud Sasser in the fourth quarter.

“It’s a difficult situation to be in,” Pinkel said of Berkstresser. “He’s a young player. It’s the sixth game of the season. He started against Arizona State. It’s not easy. He’ll learn from it and get better, but throwing a redshirt freshman out there is tough. He did some good things and he certainly has to improve.”

Pinkel said he will talk Sunday to his assistant coaches about taking a redshirt off of freshman quarterback Maty Mauk.